A Long Journey Home (A Star Wars Story)
by foodatblains
Summary: It's roughly 6000 bby. The Sith Empire is spreading across the galaxy, preparing for a massive assault. Cirilla Tu, a Jedi youngling from Lothal must make her way home through the beginning of a bloody conflict.
1. Chapter 1

A Long Journey Home (A Star Wars Story)

Chapter 1

Cirilla Tu's breath was visible in the cold dark caves of Ilum. "Just a bit further!" She said to herself as she reached out above a seemingly bottomless pit towards a glimmer in the dark. "Got it!". Her hand wrapped around the crystal just as the ice started to give beneath her feet. Cirilla began to fall forward before she instinctively stuck a gloved hand out, in order to push herself back to relative safety using the force. Once back on solid ground, she decided to give herself a moment to rest and collect herself before heading back to regroup with the other younglings at the entrance of the temple. "This took longer than expected." she said breathlessly as a bead of sweat rolled into her eye. Cirilla held her new Kyber Crystal up to the light to examine it. She could feel the warmth radiating from the stone and wondered how that was even possible. "I need to get back before it's too late". She wiped the sweat from her eye which was already beginning to sting, pushed herself onto her feet and made her way back down the icy cave.

Cirilla wanted to take the time to bask in her accomplishment. This was the first major test she had passed during her Jedi training and she couldn't have been more proud of herself. "This'll show Piryaya!" She spent the next few moments recalling all of the times her fellow Jedi in training Piryaya made fun of her hair or said that she would never pass "The Trials". She clenched her teeth. The hurtful memories aggravated Cirilla enough that she decided to pick up the pace and run the rest of the way back. The caves were beautiful. At least the illuminated parts. She hadn't noticed on the way in because she'd been entirely focused on the quest for her Kyber Crystal. "This place is so different than Lothal." she thought. She had spent almost all of her life within the walls of the Jedi Temple on an arid planet.

A tall arched doorway came into view as she rounded the last bend out of Ilum's famed ice caves. She could see a couple classmates chatting and showing each other their newest prized possessions. "Tason!" she shouted down the blue-icy hallway to a boy with long red hair and a smattering of freckles across his face. "Hurry up Cirilla! You're the last one!" He yelled back at her, his voice echoing through the caves all around her. Tason was nicer to Cirilla than most of the other younglings, but she suspected that it was because she was the only student in their class that scored lower than he did on their exams. Cirilla passed through the doorway just before the light receded from the temple, causing the entrance into the caves to freeze over again. Bent over with hands rested on her knees, Cirilla took a moment to catch her breath before attempting to compose herself. She scanned the room quickly to double check if she was actually the last youngling to finish. She was.

The entrance hall was overwhelming. Ancient Jedi patterns covered the asymmetrical walls that towered up into a domed ceiling with a massive Kyber Crystal hanging from it. This giant Kyber Crystal was used to reflect sunlight in order to melt the ice blocking the cave entrance. Cirilla saw a needless complexity in the design. "Look who finally decided to join us" spat Piryaya in Cirilla's direction without making eye contact. Piryaya's two closest friends giggled at her jab but Cirilla was unfazed. She had her Kyber Crystal and that was all that mattered.

"Gather around younglings!" Jedi Master Talzen called out. Tason jogged up beside Cirilla while they all gathered around the Jedi Master in the center of the room. "I can't believe you made it out in time! I was starting to get a bit worried." Tason admitted to Cirilla in a whisper. She was slightly offended by his lack of confidence in her, but appreciated the sentiment just the same. "Thanks Tason. How did y-" suddenly a feeling of immense dread overcame Cirilla that stopped her in her tracks. The room grew even darker and colder than what seemed natural to Cirilla. Tason took a couple of steps forward before realizing his classmate was no longer beside him. "You okay?" Tason asked over his shoulder expressing concern. "I feel like something is coming". Cirilla tried to communicate the weight of what she was feeling to Tason with her eyes. The cold of the room suddenly chilled the youngling to her bones.

The decorative doors leading outside suddenly swung open with force that seemed inhuman. _Slam_! _Crack_! Three intimidating figures now stood in the cave entrance. "Well what do we have here?" one of them hissed. "Are you the guardians of this temple?" Another joked tauntingly. "Stay back Younglings!" Jedi Master Talzen commanded, arm outstretched in a protective stance. Cirilla's eyes shot around the room to her classmates to confirm they were just as confused and frightened as she was. "How dare you step foot in this sacred place, Sith!" Cirilla's mind began racing trying to grasp her Masters words. Sith? There is no way they would come here. _Woosh _the sound of four lightsabers igniting almost in unison filled the room. A suffocating red glow dwarfed the blue glimmer coming off of Master Talzens blade. Cirilla watched Tason's eyes grow wide with panic as the dread she had felt overwhelmed them all.

In the blink of an eye, all three of the sith's lightsabers found their way into the torso of Jedi Master Talzen. By the time the hilt of his saber touched the ground, the sith were already cutting down her classmates. The wails of younglings reverberated throughout the corridor. The sound was deafening. Cirilla was convinced this was a nightmare until the sweat in her eye began to sting again and reminded her she was still awake. "We need to run!" Cirilla cried to Tason as she grabbed his hand. Tason looked back at her and barely mustered a nod. She dared not lead them back in the cave with no exit known to her. They would need to get past the Sith and escape through the front entrance. Her hand tightened around Tason's. Cirilla began running directly towards the open doorway at full speed, Tason in tow. Her feet slipped on the partially iced over floors. She tried to ignore the sounds of lightsabers cutting through flesh. She tried not to look as Piryaya and her friends were executed. She tried not to think about her master. "And where do you think you two are going?" a monster screeched from across the room. Her piercing yellow eyes and grey skin against the red bloom of her lightsaber were a horror. Cirilla dared not look at the sith longer than a couple of seconds. Tears finally started to run down her face. It took but a moment for the demon to block their escape.

As the lightsaber swung into the space right above Cirilla's chest, she was suddenly reminded of her training back on Lothal. A feeling of calm overcame her. Cirilla then closed her eyes and focused on the force. It surrounded her, moved through her and then showed her what she would need to do. Cirilla stuck her right hand out toward the middle of the room and in an instant her master's lightsaber was in her gloved palm. It was almost like something was controlling her movements. _Whoosh _once again blue light brightened the hall. His lightsaber was heavier than expected. "Look Don! We have a fighter" the grey sith hissed through razor sharp teeth. "So we do!" the tall dark haired sith replied as he impaled the last youngling in the room besides Cirilla and Tason. Cirilla released Tasons hand in order to get into one of the few defensive stances she had been taught. Her feet were wide apart with the lightsaber held over her head in both hands. She knew her form was sloppy but that hardly mattered at this point. "I like her! She's got spirit! The dark haired man said as he sauntered towards them, black robes lightly dragging across the floor. Cirilla quickly looked back at Tason whose arms were wrapped around himself, eyes wide. "So do I!" said the third sith, who stepped out of the shadows on the other end of the hall. "Should we bring her back to the temple? We need every fighter we can get." "Those weren't our orders Viktor! We're only here for the crystals.". "Fine! Then let's finish this quickly so we can get back to the ship! I'm freezing.". "Gladly".

Before Cirilla could react, they were surrounded. Blades came at them from all sides. She was just able to deflect a thrust at her chest but, unable to protect her friend. "No!" she screamed. As she turned to look at Tason, lifeless on the cold floor, her ears filled with a high pitched ringing. The sound grew so loud and painful that she started screaming to its tune. Then everything turned white.

When Cirilla came to, she didn't recognize her surroundings. All of her classmates were gone. All of the sith were gone. Most of the room was gone as well. She looked up to find that half of the massive kyber crystal hanging from the ceiling was missing. The room looked like a giant oval was perfectly carved out of it. "What happened?" she asked herself in a daze. She slowly walked out of the main entrance in an almost dreamlike state. The icy wind kissed her forehead once outside. She started to remember enough of what had just happened to realize she needed to escape before more sith showed up. It only took a few moments to find the ship that the sith had shown up in.

Cirilla had never flown a ship or been trained on how to fly. The bright switches, knobs and buttons confused her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the ships recycled air to calm her nerves. "You can do this Cirilla" she reassured herself. _Click_. She heard a low noise as the ship started to vibrate. She opened her eyes. Her hand had somehow found its way to the power switch. "That was lucky!" she thought. She sat in the pilot's seat which was much too large for her small frame. Her eyes slowly wandered over the dashboard to deduce what her next step was. "This looks like it does something". She pulled a small silver lever to the right of her seat. The metal was cool to the touch. The vibration of the ship intensified as it lifted off the planets snowy white surface. Cirilla gripped the ships controls and guided it as well as she could through the atmosphere and into the blackness of space. Once out of the planets gravitational pull the ship's vibration subsided a bit. She would need to take a moment to calm down before trying to figure out what to do next. Cirilla gazed out of the ships front viewport. This was the first time that seeing the stars had made her feel safe. She put her cold red face into her hands and cried.


	2. Chapter 2

Zarenthian Pyle slammed his fists down on the large round table to everybody's surprise. "Karabast!" The room erupted with laughter at the boys misfortune. " If you're gonna get mad every time you lose at Sabacc, then maybe you should stop playing Zen!". An grayer Lasat man to Zarenthian's left teased. Zen rolled his eyes. "I thought you liked winning all my credits Ando!" He shot back while landing a playful punch to Ando's upper arm spilling some of the first mates Corellian Wine. "Okay guys! I'm out." Zen said standing up and stretching for a moment. "I gotta get some rest before we get to Ilum" "Good excuse kid!" A broad bearded man bellowed from across the table. The room erupted again before retiring to their game. Zen stumbled a bit while maneuvering the dark passageway to his quarters. The stink of spice still on his clothes. "I may have had a bit too much of that wine from our last raid" He reflected attempting to steady himself. His quarters were dingy and cramped. Clothing, old food and blaster parts were scattered across his small table and floor indiscriminately. The bottom bunk he typically slept on was disheveled and stained. However the top bunk was pristine, untouched since his roommate had perished last year raiding a sith outpost on Candoria. The freckled, redheaded youth flung himself into his bunk and fell asleep almost immediately.

Cold wind whipped across Zen's thin face. He was stranded in a sea of white. "Where am I"? Suddenly he could see a glimmer of blue across the seemingly endless snowy tundra. He felt drawn to this light, like it was his dearest friend. Zen slowly trekked toward the glow. Mesmerized. Hours seemed to pass but he was no closer to his destination. He didn't notice when the sun set, all he could concentrate on was the glimmer. His muscles ached and he was colder than he had ever felt in his life. "What are you!" He shouted into the dim night, voice discordant. Whoosh. A sound Zen had never heard before. Three crimson blades materialized as a wave of terror overtook him. "Those weren't our orders Viktor! We're only here for the crystals." A voice seethed from the darkness. "Fine! Then let's finish this quickly so we can get back to the ship! I'm freezing." another returned. "Gladly". The blades closed in.

"Hey kid, wake up!" A familiar voice called from across his room. Zen's eyes shot open and looked over at his crew-mate, speechless and still locked in dread. Ando noticed the boy's expression. "Bad dream huh? I've had my fair share of those". The boy sat up in his bunk, and took a deep breath to calm himself. Ando walked over, bent down and rested his large four fingered hand on Zen's shoulder. "The captain needs us on the bridge." Zen gave him a firm nod still half asleep, brow shining with sweat. "Okay, I'll be there in a sec".

"We're coming up on Ilum soon." Captain Pyle affirmed eyes glued to the information display as Zen entered the over-sized bridge. "But look at this" pointing at some lines of text near the top of the screen. Zen joined his father and first mate near the front viewport. "A distress beacon?" Ando had a concerned expression. "From a sith vessel." The captain looked at his son and first mate, eyebrows raised. "Our job may have just gotten a lot easier." "Or it could be a trap" Zen interjected. "It could be but how would they know we were coming?" Ando inquired earnestly. They all looked at each other, considering what their next step should be. "We can't know for sure whether it's a trap or not but, this could be our biggest score yet." The captain blurted slapping them both on their backs. "I say we still go for it! Think about it boys Kyber Crystals, we'd be set for years!" He was right. It may even be enough to stop pirating all together. "How do we know that we can trust the sith informant that told us about this crystal shipment?" Zen's enmity for the Sith Empire evident in his tone. "We can trust him Zen" Ando assured him. "He and I go way back" "What if there are sith aboard the vessel?" Ando smirked. "We've got nearly thirty fighters. They wouldn't stand a chance!" The Capitan raised his hand to suspend the exchange. "We're about to exit hyperspace so, what are we doing?" "Let's do it" Ando grinned radiating certainty. "Fine, I'll go tell the crew to get ready."

Zen was apprehensive about the job. They had never dealt with anything more than a few sith troopers. He had heard horror stories about sith knights and had hoped he would never come face to face with one. "Let's hope it stays that way" he grumbled to himself while making his way back to the lower deck. "Hey kid! Back to lose some more credits?" The bearded man yelled across the room as Zen arrived. "Very funny." Zen shot back still a little sore from squandering most of his credits earlier.

Zen briefed the crew in the room on the amended mission. "Everybody gear up!" he said looking around at his ragtag crew. "We don't know if there are gonna be any sith aboard the vessel so, stay on your toes!" He finished. "Aye aye captain!" one of the crew jabbed while tucking her blaster into the back of her pants. Zen grinned lightly. Tonasha Gustav liked to tease him ever since she joined the crew a couple of years back. Even though he was young, they both knew that the crew respected his leadership. "Well I know who's gonna be in the front with Ando and I when we board the enemy vessel now". He said teasing her back. "That's fine! It'll give me a chance to make y'all look bad when I gun down my first sith!"

"Exiting hyperspace now" the crews top pilot signaled as Zen entered the bridge. The bright blue streaks of hyperspace in a flash snapped into the image of a large sapphire planet. The northern hemisphere arched before the the front viewport. Zen felt an unusual chill. "We're coming up on the sith vessel now." The captain announced as a dark speck in front of Ilum began to take the shape of a ship. "That doesn't look like a ship meant to transport crystals." Zen said, stating the obvious to everyone in the room. "Is the crew ready to board?" Captain Pyle asked no one in particular. "We're ready Captain" Zen replied glancing over at Ando with a nod.


End file.
